This is the story of the people from the village of Hassana.It was home to Assyrian Christians in southeast Turkey.The Assyrians from Hassana were farmers and weavers.Caught in the middle of a war zone, they became refugees. They left their homeland on the look for brighter horizons.

They ended up in Belgium, in the Flemish town of Mechelen. Hassana is in ruins, Mechelen is now their place for all seasons. They still speak Aramaic, the language of their Christian faith. They are caught once again, between tradition and integration.Between their oriental past and their future under western skies.

The pictures in this photobook show them in good and bad days.In distant years and wide views, in their daily life in old Hassana.In scenes of their way of life in Mechelen, their new hometown. Landscapes to remember and portraits that reveal the inner soul.The photobook Mechelen on the Tigris preserves human history.It assembles all the colours for this Assyrian tale in pictures.